The chief drivers of this phenomenon in China? Climate change and over-use of available water. Overgrazing is also a factor, along with deforestation and the clearing of vegetation. Parched lands that have fed too many herds, spread over towns, homes and farms, creating new desert. Such is the case in north-west China. Here the government has moved thousands of people to new settlements, some happily, some not (the river water in one new town was so salty people got sick from drinking it). But how far is far enough when the climate may catch up? One relocated site is called secretly “an ecological disaster area” by government officials, according to the Guardian. One farmer laments the dust bowl – desert in the making – that already greets him not far from his front door.